


Promises

by impureimpulse



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-15
Updated: 2013-07-15
Packaged: 2017-12-20 06:03:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/impureimpulse/pseuds/impureimpulse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teddie visits Nanako in the hospital.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promises

It was nearly time.

He checked the clock on the far wall for the tenth time in the last half-hour, but the hands had advanced, and he couldn't put it off forever. “It's time to seize the day!” Teddie declared loudly, louder than he might have otherwise been if he hadn't had the house to himself that morning. It was something Yosuke's father said often, words that seemed to carry more weight whenever such a booming voice said them, so even if he wasn't entirely sure he'd picked up on their full meaning—a day wasn't something you could grab, after all—it sounded important, and that was what mattered. It was an important day, since he'd promised Nana-chan he'd visit her in the hospital, and he couldn't be late for anything.

Standing and pushing in his chair, he took what was left of the milk in his cereal bowl and downed it completely. Yosuke liked western foods better for breakfast, and his mother always complimented his “growing boy's appetite” when he ate with them, so he tried to have good habits, even when no one was watching him. It was so kind of them to let him stay here, especially for so long, when that hadn't been what Yosuke had proposed to them the night he'd brought him there. They were nice people, Yosuke's parents, almost nicer than Yosuke could be himself.

After the bowl was washed, his shoes were on, and the door was locked up, Teddie headed out into the bright morning sun, walking briskly as he waved to any of the townspeople he didn't recognize, making certain a smile was on his face. He needed to be cheerful, no matter how he felt, because even if the hospital was a depressing sort of place, it wasn't someplace Nana-chan could leave until she was ready.

The walk seemed short. Before long, he was signing Nanako's name, and then his own in careful print on the visitor's log, nodding as the nurse behind the counter asked if he was family, and thankfully not questioning him about that any further. The woman offered him a tight-lipped, sympathetic smile.

“It's hard seeing her like this, but it's good you've come today, she was asking for you earlier.”

“It's okay, she said she won't be here for long, she said she'd be able to see everyone soon. But if she was asking, I'd better go. Thank you!”

He didn't wait for any response, turning down the hall quickly towards her room. He knew the way on his own by now, and entered the room as quietly as possible, deciding against knocking in case she was trying to sleep.

“Nana-chan?” Teddie crept to her bedside, frowning a little at the oxygen tank nearby until he saw it was connected to a tube which led to her nose, and not a mask which might make it difficult for her to speak. “Teddie is here, and right on time, just like he promised!” The show of over-dramatic enthusiasm his voice carried wavered a bit, but he smiled convincingly, dragging up a chair to sit, arms folded across the metal railing. Laying his head down, he grinned at her as he saw her eyes open gradually, and she smiled back in recognition a few moments later.

“You came. I'm glad.” Her voice sounded thin, and her body seemed incredibly small somehow in the hospital bed, smaller even than the first time he'd seen her here.

“I keep my promises. I don't want to swallow any needles, but even without that, I'm a—no, _the most_ honest, trustworthy bear you'll ever meet! If there were any others _to_ meet, and since there aren't, that makes me the number one most reliable! ...Do you think you get to go home today?”

“I think so. You're a good bear, Teddie.” She paused for a long time, long enough that he threaded one of his arms through the metal bars of the hospital bed and touched her hand lightly, interlocking his pinky finger with hers, mindful of the IV tubes and marveling at how tiny and fragile her hands felt in comparison to his own. The touch seemed to rouse her again, and she moved her pinky just enough to grip his finger in return. “Come and play with Big Bro and me, when we're all together again?”

Something in his chest squeezed at that, but it was something he'd felt before, and Teddie nodded solemnly at her question. Only a flicker of doubt crossed over his face before he could grin at her confidently again. “I'll do my beary best to _try_ , Nana-chan. I can promise you that, just like I promised Sensei.”

A promise wasn't really broken until it failed to be kept, after all. It was something he'd reminded himself of more times than he could count. Some things took time. They couldn't be rushed. He had to be patient.

“Can you stay?” It wasn't something she had to ask, and he nearly told her as much, but settled for a silent nod, shifting his arm so that she could let her own rest more comfortably while he still gripped at her pinky.

“I promise, Nana-chan. You can sleep if you want, I'll be right here.” Watching her tiny form relax somewhat, Teddie bit at his lip quietly, trying not to think too much on exactly what he'd promised her, and if any of his promises to his friends were ones he'd be able to keep. He'd keep trying, of course. But it was hard sometimes, and this one might be the last one he had left to make.

“Pinky swear, if I break the promise, I'll swallow 1,000 needles, pinky swear...” Teddie sang under his breath, his tone the same childish sing-song pitch as always.

* * *

 

The funeral itself was something he couldn't bring himself to attend. After so many others, and the more time that passed, the harder it became to justify or explain his presence to those who hadn't met him, or had once, and might wonder why even now, decades later, he still looked exactly the same.

Inaba had changed around them all, and he'd left the now-peaceful world he'd come from multitudes of times. He'd attended their weddings, waited anxiously for the births of their children, stretching his visits further and further apart as time passed. He was assisted in believable explanations by all of his friends until they could no longer give them, and his visits had to come individually, or so carefully as to be almost impossible.

Until, one by one, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, they began to leave him behind. Each time had hurt; sudden or gradual, it made no difference. Time had begun to run together for him. Some moments stood out, while others ran together in a muddled way until he could barely decipher how long he'd been without them. It all felt like the day before, each time he could bring himself to think about it.

Teddie stood at the edge of the fence, hidden by the carefully-groomed ornamental shrubs which surrounded the orderly rows of memorials. Waiting until the light faded, and the distant figures had begun to leave, he made his way over to the newest of a group of all-too-familiar stones. He crouched on his heels, then knelt, clapping and murmuring quiet greetings under his breath.

“Hi, Nana-chan. I miss you. Can you tell Sensei I miss him, too?”

No one had ever told him exactly what it was that he was supposed to say, but he'd seen others go through the same motions from afar so many times, he was certain he had at least part of it correct.

There were still so many things he didn't understand, things he couldn't seem to do quite right, which no one could help him to learn. Some days it seemed impossible, but if a Shadow could create for itself an existence from nothing, and become _him_ , then there had to be something. Something opposite of that, that he could do, the same way all of his friends had. Finding that answer was taking longer than he would have liked, but Teddie knew his friends would wait for him.

They'd promised, after all.  


End file.
